Forty-eight hours after Twitter deleted President Muhammadu Buhari’s controversial tweets from his Twitter handle, the Federal Government Friday has announced the suspension of Twitter operations in Nigeria.
Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, through his Special Assistant on Media, Segun Adeyemi announced the Twitter indefinite suspension in Nigeria. The government has however silent about when the ban will take effect.
This was President Buhari deleted tweet: “Many of those misbehaving today are too young to be aware of the destruction and loss of lives that occurred during the Nigerian Civil War. Those of us in the fields for 30 months, who went through the war, will treat them in the language they understand.”
Authorities of Twitter however maintained that aforementioned Buhari’s statement violated Twitter rules and regulation.
The FG statement read: ‘FG Suspends Twitter’s Operations in Nigeria’. “The Federal Government has suspended, indefinitely, the operations of the microblogging and social networking service, Twitter, in Nigeria.
“The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, announced the suspension in a statement issued in Abuja on Friday, citing the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence.
“The Minister said the Federal Government has also directed the National Broadcasting Commission to immediately commence the process of licensing all OTT and social media operations in Nigeria.”
The PUNCH had earlier reported that a lawyer and member of the President’s All Progressives Congress ruling party, Dr Daniel Bwala, said Twitter deleted Buhari’s post out of malice but failed to delete the inciting posts of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu.
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Bwala had also accused Twitter Chief Executive Officer, Jack Dorsey, of supporting a process that could have led to insurrection in Nigeria since last October during the #EndSARS protest.
He had also urged the Federal Government to launch an official complaint with the United States Congress to invite Twitter CEO to explain his recent role in the activities in Nigeria that are widely regarded as agitation for secession.
The Buhari regime has in recent time sought stiffer penalties for persons who “misuse social media”.
The Senate is currently deliberating on Protection from Internet Falsehood and Manipulations Bill 2019 commonly known as the anti-social media bill.
It seeks to criminalise the use of the social media in peddling false or malicious information. It was sponsored by Senator Mohammed Musa, a member of the President’s All Progressives Congress.
